To all real piano teachers out there: what are your thoughts on students taking lesson from "NON" pianist?

I have had just about enough dealing with students who came from teachers who are anything but pianists. Music stores, community music centers are full of singers, trumpet players, guitarists, string players, drummers that teach loads and loads of piano students. 98% of the cases students learn from those who have no business teaching piano(let alone building a solid musical and technical foundation for the students).
If the students' parents ever got the senses to bring the kids to a real pianist, what usually happens is that the pianist teacher will have to put in so much extra effort and time just to get rid of the bad habbits, things that are just plain wrong.......
I could go on and on..

people think that anyone who took piano lessons when they were 8 could teach piano. And then lots of those who took piano when they were 8 couldn't really get other jobs. So you have students with potential but didn't get to learn what they needed to learn because of some un-qualified punk who had no other ways of making a living but teaching piano.

I work in a music store and teach cello (it doesn't matter the instrument) I've had students that started very badly .. one teacher wouldn't let them take their instruments home to practice so they wouldn't develop bad habits so in the end they had no habits and no clue ... the other learned how to look good but couldn't play a note (kids always take the easiest way out) ... neither one could read either ..... that as you said is harder than starting from scratch because the kids do know something but it's just a false front of someone else's ego .... when I recommend teachers I question the future student in question and for kids the parents too so I can offer the best fit among those teachers that are qualified and even some of the teachers that offer their services through the store I never recommend ..... the music "school" out here will just stick a student in empty slots with anybody .. I know I've rescued quite a few violin students ... your rant is justified!!!!

Edik comments are correct but so many times the parents of the kids they enroll in lessons know nothing about music ... I've heard horror stories of pianos students who couldn't read after 5 or 6 years of lessons and couldn't even play pieces they had worked on 6 months earlier ... the poor parents shell out all this money and waste years of lesson time and the kids usually end up hating their instrument

My thoughts?

ICK, ICK, and ICK

I don't even think all "pianists" are qualified to teach.
I don't think you have to be certified or charge a lot to be a piano teacher. I think you REALLY have to care that you teach the right techniques, theory, etc...And, if you're not sure about something, you have to find out WHAT to do.

I'm VERY tired of piano teachers who don't care enough to enforce (or at least encourage) some sort of practice schedule, who allow students to perform in recitals when they NEVER practice, and who really have no clue what they're doing.

Okay...rant over!

I'm not a pianist, but I for one would never send my kid (if I had one) to a teacher who was not a specialist on his/her instrument. I know what you mean about those music schools. I am trying to get a job at such a place, and I have to compete with non-flutists for flute positions. That really irks me, as I KNOW they teach bad habits that will really impede the progress of an aspiring flutist! I personally prefer not to even try teaching other woodwinds (except maybe a little beginning oboe), but I know that the climate means I might actually have to. I might actually have to teach piano as well...me, who barely passed class piano:0! (Forgive me, but when you need a job you need a job!) I tell myself that students can get rare instruction in expression from me, which is true, but I am not good at teaching piano technique...

...I DO teach voice. I have sung quite a bit over the years and studied voice privately alongside flute.

I ramble, but though my job situation means I have to take what I can get, I agree with you!

Yes - couldn't agree more. Pretty much the same with singing.

I don't like it, especially when I was teaching in a studio, they brought in a clarinetist, and began giving him the new piano students and left me, a real pianist, without new piano students, why? to give him work.
I suppose, if a student is no serious and just wants piano for a few lessons for fun, then that's their choice. But if they are serious, they will be trained incorrectly. For the record, pianists are trained extensively on phrasing and breathing with the music to create beautiful lines, all those hand motions are not for show n tell. Therefore, we don't need another instrumentalist to teach it. Only a real pianist can show you how to execute the moves and arrive on the notes in time that have large leaps in contrary motion at top speed. And, there's a million more requirements. A non piano teacher can only teach you one thing ; where or what the notes are, a monkey can do that too. That's fine if that's all a student wants.
I agree with you questioner.

Try being a guitar teacher and dealing with literally endless ideas - most bad- about how the guitar should be played. At least you have one basic set of keys. I've got to deal with steel strings, nylon, electric guitars, big ones little ones idiot ones smart ones clueless ones etc.
And talk about NON guitarists! Lord they're creeping out of every corner. I just tell my students who say "such and such showed me THIS way" that they are studying with me and not such and such. My way will be the way they do it- period.
I could go on and on too. Students are you reading this???????

I'm neither a pianist, nor a piano teacher, but I've never heard of this issue. I can't imagine why anybody would pay good money to study with someone who WASN'T a specialist in the area being studied. Everywhere I've lived, there have been dozens (if not more) piano teachers. Is this a regional thing? Maybe a small town where music teachers are in short supply? I don't get it.

Would you pay a mathematician money to tutor you in French? Probably not...

Students who want to study piano should take lessons from qualified piano teachers. When I say qualified, I mean teachers who took lots of years studying piano, earned a degree in music and spent a lot of time teaching and nurturing music/piano students.
If students just take lessons from somebody who isn't qualified (I don't know why they do? Is it because its cheaper?), it's like you are going to a "quack doctor" for a check up. You'll not improve, you'll just get worse, and most of all, you wont become a good pianist!

Why not try teaching yourself instead? I did. It's true much of the coaching has to come from your piano teacher, but it also takes a lot of effort and willingness on your part to participate and learn on your own. Well, I wish you the best in finding an exceptional piano instructor, since that seemed to be the main complaint of your problems.